On the San Juan elk hunt a few months ago, I had purchased a wall clock, much like the one in this picture.  I had it hanging near where I sleep in the camp trailer, but after just a few minutes of laying there with that clock only about a foot away from my head, the ticking got to be WAY too much for me to handle.  If I was going to get any sleep that night that clock had to go away.

Well, had I known then what I know now, I would still have that clock.  It is now in the possession of Wapiti…that is, if he still has it.  He may have chucked it by now…it was a loud sucker!

Well, still desiring to have a clock near my bed in the camp trailer, I have been going into the local Deseret Industries store looking for just the right one…last week I found one that would do just fine.  I bought it for a dollar and brought it home.  It’s way too fancy as it is for the trailer, but what I bought was the workings, not the fancy smancy stand up clock that it is.

I have had it sitting on my desk near to where I am typing right now and for the last week I have been listening to it “click, click, click, click” away.  Now you and I both know that if I can hear that thing clicking during the day while I’m messing with this computer, just what would it sound like high up in the quiet mountains during a hunt, when the world is so silent you can almost hear the footsteps of a mouse crossing a dusty road?

CLACKKK! CLACKKK! CLACKKK!  CLACKKK!

NO way would a guy be able to sleep with that noise going on.

So, I got to thinking, what can I do to that silly clock to make it quieter?  Ah Ha!  The all knowing “Web”!

I searched for “quieting a noisy clock” and of course there were several people wondering the same thing…imagine that.  And most of them got the same smart alick remark to “remove the battery”!  But, there were two sites on there that told me exactly what I needed to know.  One was a written explanation as to what was needed and the second was a LOONNGGG almost 11 minute video of how to do it.

Well, I read the explanation and then took the 11 minutes to boringly watch the video.  It was worth watching even though the guy explained the same things about 50 times and took much longer than he should have using a screwdriver to open up the works of the clock.

So, what I found was that if you pop off the plastic cover from the back of the works and “carefully” remove the little plastic gears, down to where there are no more gears in the case.  You can then put tiny bits of gun oil or some light lubricant oil in the small holes where the gear hinges go, the gear faces themselves etc.  And then reassemble the thing to what it was.  It takes all that clicking sound and makes it just plain “go away”!

My clock is now so quiet, I had Sherry listen to it this morning.  I held it to her ear and said “Listen to the clicking”.  Her response “There isn’t any”!  And that is exactly right…there isn’t any sound at all coming out of this clock, and before you say I have yet to put the battery back into it, I have and it is keeping perfect time as well!

Before you go and dive into your vintage hand-me-down clock to try and make it quiet, I have to tell you, as far as I know, this only works for those little plastic kind that takes a small battery to operate.

Bears Butt

December 24, 2013

EDIT:

December 25, 2013

The kids all came over to the house and we exchanged gifts, but one of the gifts was from an unknown source….AND, the package was marked to “bearsbutt.com”

When I opened it up what to my surprise!  THE LA, NOISY CLOCK from the elk hunt!

The first thought that went through my head was that it had been returned so that I could make it quiet!  I took it out of the package and told a short story about the noise and then handed it to Hot Spark to listen to how loud it was…she put it to her ear and said, “I don’t hear anything”!  She handed it back and I put it to my ear and could hear nothing!  FIXED!

Thank you to whoever returned the noisy clock and was able to fix it!  The next time you see it it will be installed in the hunting trailer!

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Bears Butt

December 25, 2013

Xmas Message

With Xmas upon us I would like to share a personal experience with my friends about drinking and driving.  As you may know some of us have been known to have brushes with the authorities from time to time on the way home after a “social session” with friends. Well two days ago I was out for an evening with friends and had more than several beers followed by a couple of bottles of some rather nice red wine.

Although feeling jolly I still had the sense to know that I may be slightly over the limit.
That’s when I did something that I’ve never done before – I took a cab.

Sure enough on the way home there was a police roadblock but since it was a cab they waved it past and I arrived home safely without incident.

This was a real surprise, as I had never driven a cab before, I don’t know where I got it and now that it’s in my garage I don’t know what to do with it.
So if you want to borrow it give me a call.

This is always a very busy time of year, trying to get caught up on home stuff, Christmas in every direction and just plain trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

Today has been no exception.

Watching it snow outside and knowing I can’t plow until it stops, I’ve been trying to catch up on some cooking that I promised.  I have batch number 4 of Venison Bacon in the cooler letting the nitrites do their thing until tomorrow when I can smoke the stuff.

And then, after a brief pause on this site, I went to making some “One Lisa Burritos” for a party on the morning of Christmas Eve.  This will be year number 3 for me to make up a batch of these burritos and take them to Sherry’s work and have a small party before the store opens.

Everything takes time and when you have an actual count of the number of people that are going to be in attendance (+/- one or two), you buy the appropriate number of items to make up the batch you need…right?…Go back up to the picture I put up about this story and count the number of burritos you see….6 is my count!  And the package says there should be 10!  6 for 10…what a deal!  Now I’m 4 short!  I’ve always been short, but in this case, I will have to open another package to make the number I need for the party…oh well!

I’m not going to bother Smith’s with this, nor will I write Lynn Wilson, I’ll just live with it and in future purchases consider the possibility of a shortage and buy more than I need.

The snow has stopped…my two batches of burritos are in the freezer…I’ve had my lunch and now for an exciting afternoon of pushing snow!

Later!

Bears Butt

December 21, 2013

For you regular followers of this site, you will recall that some time back, not too far, but not a year ago either, I got a “recall notice” on one of my cars.

It was a recall that said they didn’t have any parts right now, but they wanted me to know that there was a recall on my drivers side airbag and how it could deploy without any warning.  Remember my rant?

That came and went and I had Crock and the boys in Logan fix it.  I was relieved when that was fixed.

So, about two months ago, I got another recall notice from the Pontiac guys, saying there was a recall but no parts yet on the Passenger side airbag…..hmmmm.  So, since it would be blowing up in my passengers face, I chose not to rant on here about it.  At least if it blew up on that side of the car, I, as the driver, would be able to respond accordingly and maybe keep the car from crashing.

Yesterday, I got a notice about this latest recall and they tell me they have the parts available for this repair and it would not cost me anything buy my time and gas to and from the repair shop (I threw that in), they said the repair would not cost me anything.

Here is what they said:

“Why is your vehicle being recalled?

Your vehicle is equipped with a front passenger airbag inflator which could have been assembled with improperly manufactured propellant wafers.  Improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger airbag to deploy abnormally in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury to the occupant”.

—————-

This makes me feel a lot safer, knowing that the airbag won’t just suddenly blast into someones face, I have to get into an accident first and then the airbag will “probably” deploy in a way so as to either not protect my passenger, or deploy in a direction that would not help save their life, or maybe cause damage to them that otherwise would not have happened without the airbag deploying.

____________

Improperly manufactured propellant wafers.

This makes me wonder if our local folks are making their airbag thingys correctly…I went searching a bit and found this on www.industryweek.com:

TOKYO — Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda, announcing in separate statements the recall of a combined 3.39 million vehicles, all cited the same malfunction of the Japanese-made passenger-side airbags.

A Toyota spokesman said his company was calling back 1.73 million vehicles, manufactured between November 2000 and March 2004 in Japan or abroad.

“The involved vehicles are equipped with front passenger airbag inflators which could have been assembled with improperly manufactured propellant wafers,” Toyota said.

“Improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger airbag to deploy abnormally in the event of a crash.”

A company spokesman in Japan said this abnormal inflation “could also burn part of the vehicle’s inside and cause fire.” However, he said, there were no recorded instances of this happening.

Nissan and Honda released statements giving similar explanations.

A Nissan spokeswoman said the company was recalling a total of 480,000 vehicles globally, all of which were manufactured in Japan between August 2000 and January 2004.

The airbags were made by Tokyo-based Takata Corp, which said it deeply regrets the recall. “We will fully cooperate with the carmakers in replacing the parts by sharing some cost burden,” a spokesman said.

Honda, which is recalling 1.135 million vehicles, said it was “a global recall that affects all regions where we do our business”.

Mazda said 45,463 units worldwide came under the recall, around a tenth of which were in Japan.

“We will recall the cars at home while taking the same action in accordance with local regulations of each country,” a company spokeswoman said.

Shigeru Matsumura, an auto analyst with SMBC Friend Securities, said: “It was a typical incident caused by the use of common parts for cost-cutting efforts. All companies must be always aware of this risk.”

Matsumura said it was difficult to assess what impact the huge recall would have on the companies and their reputation with consumers. “It may cause safety concerns among customers, which could damage their brand image,” he said.

The recall is the latest in a series that have hit Japan’s auto industry, which once traded on its reputation for quality and reliability.

In January Toyota said it would recall nearly 1.3 million vehicles globally over airbag and windscreen wiper problems. The glitch announced Thursday is not related to the earlier airbag problem. At the end of last year the company it said it had agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit launched by U.S. vehicle owners affected by a series of mass recalls.

But despite its travails, Toyota recaptured the title of world’s biggest automaker from General Motors in 2012, selling 9.75 million vehicles around the planet.

Shingo Ito, AFP

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

————-

Well, I feel a bit better knowing it is not just Toyota/Pontiac that is being recalled for the same thing AND it makes me feel better about our guys in Ogden/Brigham City making the wafers and airbag parts…keep up the good work folks!

Hey Crock!  When can you get me scheduled for this fix…Recall 13112 in this case!???

If I don’t hear from Crock by Christmas Eve, I’ll give him a call and set something up for the first of the year.

Bears Butt

December 21, 2013

Freezing rain during the night, turned to heavy wet snow by daylight and still snowing as I type!  Nasty day for sure!  So, don’t expect a gift from me for Christmas, today was one of my final shopping days and it looks like I’ll be plowing snow.

Maybe the neighbors will accept my plowing as their gift…HAH!   I have theirs already in the bag.

First things first this morning however, as we have a temporary horse renter moving his beast into the field by 10.  I need to be with him to let him through the gates and try and keep the horses from mixing with the neighbors while he drives through.  After that, it’s all on him to make sure things are secured, once he unloads his horse.

Today would actually be a great day to crank up a good fire, sit in the house and drink up some spiced apple juice and just watch it snow!  Maybe do a little Bears Butt research on the web and try to find something fun and enjoyable for you to see, read or whatever.  Ya!  That’s what I’ll do!  Unless it stops snowing and at that point I’ll be plowing.

Time to go!

Bears Butt

December 19, 2013

With one PERSONAL exception, this year has been a great one!

What is the exception?  Losing my Great Grandfathers powder horn in the Crawford MountainS during the muzz deer hunt.

Hopefully someone will come across it some day and either use it, or try to get it back to me.  There are a couple of ways for them to find me.  The horn has a scratching that says “A. Zundel” on it along with his birth date and year of passing.  There is also a scrimshaw micarta tag with my squigglie symbol on it. That scrimshaw work was done by my good friend White Trapper many years ago and I really hate to have lost that along with the horn.  Bummer dude.

So, anyone with an imagination should be able to look at that and say…”Hey, it looks just like a bears butt”!  And go searching for just that…A Google Search will pop up this site!  And then we can get together and I’ll give them a HUGE reward and life will be good again!

Or they can Google “A. Zundel” and that search will put them onto Abraham Zundels web site and will also point  to this story!  Good plan!

There is hardly ever a year that goes by that doesn’t include the losing of someone near and dear to your heart and this year had several.  Rest in Peace all of you who went on ahead.

Bears Butt

December 18, 2013

The elk are all in the freezer and it’s time to do something different!  Today it’s a short trip to town for needed supplies (beer) and some Christmas shopping.

And I think I have found the gift that would be perfect for the hunter on your list who also is the one you call on to help you with your garden in the Spring Time!

Many months ago, maybe years (like 2 or less), I contacted Barnes bullet company and asked them if they thought it feasible to make a bullet out of some bio-friendly material that would be capable of carrying a payload of seeds.  My idea was that in areas devastated by fire the bullets carrying seeds could be shot from guns and cover the landscape where the fire ravaged it.

I really had only thought about having the military people use those projectiles to ran-sack the country side and plant the seeds using 50 caliber machine guns and Huey type guns and be able to plant a billion and six seeds all over a fire area.  They could hold some sort of “excersize” in the area, co-or din the area off to keep people and animals out and do their shooting!

I see it as a totally feasible thing.

Well, today I heard bout a company that sells shotgun shells that are loaded with seeds!  “Flowershells.com”!  Yes!  http://www.flowershell.com/

Checkemout!

A bit on the pricey side for me, but for your reloaders out there…give em hell Harry!

I’ll have a box of Wildflower mix and some Daffodills!

Bears Butt

December 17, 2013